We’re incredibly proud to share our phenomenal OPAL audit report, celebrating Roby Park’s achievement of Platinum Status with a perfect 100% score across all categories.
This detailed report showcases how we’ve embedded a rich, inclusive, and child-centred play culture across our school—from strategic leadership to daily practice. It’s a testament to the passion, creativity, and commitment of our entire school community.
We have recently started a programme to improve opportunities for physical activity, socialisation, co-operation, coordination, resilience, creativity, imagination and enjoyment through improved play. It is an 18-24 month programme so watch this space for updates and progress.
The OPAL Outdoor Play and Learning Programme is the result of 17 years testing and development in over 250 schools and is now used in Canada and New Zealand as well as across the UK. Work has started to adapt the programme for schools in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Austria. In 2018 OPAL won first prize in an EU funded award for the best active school’s programme in Europe.
It is based on the idea that as well as learning through good teaching, your children also learn when they play, and as 20% of their time in school is playtime, we want to make sure that this amount of time (equivalent to 1.4 years of primary school) is as good as possible.
One reason we are carrying out this programme is that childhood has changed and many children no longer get their play need met out of school.
There are many proven benefits for schools which carry out the OPAL Programme. They usually include: more enjoyment of school, less teaching time lost to disputes between children, less accidents and greatly improved behaviour.
Don’t underestimate the value of play. Children learn and develop:
Play helps children grow strong and healthy. It also counteracts obesity issues facing many children today.
Play helps your children grow emotionally. It is joyful and provides an outlet for anxiety and stress.
Play is simple and complex. There are many types of play: symbolic, sociodramatic, functional, and games with rules-–to name just a few. Researchers study play’s many aspects: how children learn through play, how outdoor play impacts children’s health, the effects of screen time on play, to the need for recess in the school day.
As parents, you are the biggest supporters of your children’s learning. You can make sure they have as much time to play as possible during the day to promote cognitive, language, physical, social, and emotional development.
They are not separate activities. They are intertwined. Think about them as a science lecture with a lab. Play is the child’s lab.
Remember your own outdoor experiences of building forts, playing on the beach, sledding in the winter, or playing with other children in the neighbourhood. Make sure your children create outdoor memories too.
There’s a lot written on children and play. Here are some NAEYC articles and books about play. David Elkind’s The Power of Play (Da Capo, 2007 reprint) is also a great resource.
Remember as a child how play just came naturally? Give your children time for play and see all that they are capable of when given the opportunity.
Children practice and reinforce their learning in multiple areas during play. It gives them a place and a time for learning that cannot be achieved through completing a worksheet. For example, in playing restaurant, children write and draw menus, set prices, take orders, and make out checks. Play provides rich learning opportunities and leads to children’s success and self-esteem.
Play is not messing about. It is the process evolution has come up with to enable children to learn all of the things that cannot be taught, while also feeling like it is fun. There are certain things children must have in order to be able to play. These include:
As the school improves play opportunities for your children, you may find the school is asking you for resources and is making changes about how the children use the school grounds. They may use more of the grounds, for more of the year. Your children may get a bit messier, be exposed to more challenges and have greater freedoms to play where, with whom and how they like. The experiences the school is fostering are essential for children’s physical and mental well-being and healthy and in line with all current good practice advice on health safety, well-being and development.
You will be able to learn all about OPAL and watch several videos about the programme on the OPAL website: www.outdoorplayandleaning.org.uk.
Read more about the benefits of each of our areas here:
📰 Check out our latest school newsletter!
This week’s edition includes:
⭐️Upcoming enrichment experiences for pupils
⭐️Key date reminders for families
⭐️Information about Autumn Term progress meetings
⭐️Celebrations of pupil achievements across school
📎 Read it here: https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/10.10.25-Newsletter.pdf
Golden Broom award for helping to tidy away the sandpit and with the cover! These boys are setting a great example for our OPAL playtimes. #RPEnrichment
Our latest school newsletter is packed with exciting updates, upcoming events, and important reminders. Stay in the loop and see what’s happening in our school community!
¡Hola! Year 3 had an exciting week with the OPAL play afternoon. Today was also European Day of Languages, where we learnt how to greet each other, say how we feel, say goodbye in Spanish, and learnt a flamenco dance. ¡Olé!
Congratulations to all of our learning heroes who we celebrated in our final celebration assembly of the 2024-25 academic year!
Nursery had an amazing afternoon in the sun with their friends and grown ups! They explored lots of different areas and took part in lots of different games.
afternoon with our grown ups! It is always so much fun when they come and join us to play with all of our amazing resources! #RPEnrichment
The last of our OPAL Family Afternoons will take place at 1.30pm this Thursday. We are pleased to offer our family play afternoons every half term. Come and join us for an afternoon of play and fun.
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Check out our latest newsletter….
https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/27.6.25-Newsletter.pdf
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Thanks to
, we have successfully had a grant approved to fight holiday hunger which will allow us to provide 240 free sessions (9am – 3pm) at our Summer camps this Summer. Children will not only benefit from exciting activities but also fresh fruit, cereal bars, nutritious lunches and drinks. Complete the form below to express your interest and Mrs Allen will be in touch to confirm successful places! Places will be offered on a priority basis. forms.gle/6Fd7Zi42Jec9qH
afternoon with our friends and grownups in the sun! Thank you to everyone who came to play with us! #RPEnrichment
afternoon with our grown ups! We always have the best time when they come and join us to play! #RPEnrichment
for letting us share their end of SATs treat! We hope you had an amazing day. You deserve it after all the hard work you have put in. We had lots bouncing fun in the sun #RPEnrichment
What a brilliant time we’ve had in the sunshine with our
play! Pupils played collaboratively and independently across all areas, with plenty of laughter, smiles, and fantastic teamwork on show. We look forward to our adults joining us next week #RPEnrichment
Golden Broom for helping tidy up at break and lunchtimes, as well as preparing resources in the morning too! Well done!
To celebrate the end of SATs,
have a fun afternoon planned… but we were lucky enough to have a turn on the inflatable obstacle course! We had a blast! Thank you
play! The children have loved exploring all areas and working together to create fantastic structures! Today we had the titanic and two sailors! #RPEnrichment
morning in the sun today. We played across all areas collaboratively and independently with plenty of laughs and smiles along the way!
morning in the sun today. We played across all areas collaboratively and independently with plenty of laughs and smiles along the way!
afternoon! We had great fun playing, climbing, building and jumping on the field. Thank you,
by having a positive attitude towards
playtime’s and helping younger children to explore all the areas! Well done!
How amazing is this egg design – it is a perfect replica of our amazing
offer at Roby Park! Well done to Archie in Y1
. This week he has not only tidied away equipment but he also chose to use some of his playtime to litter pick. Well done
bingo donations off your hands! Thank you for rummaging around your houses and gardens for pre-loved items children can make use of during their play The classes who complete their bingo card win an afternoon of Opal play and ice creams!
Check out the Spring edition of our
termly newsletter. Lots of new exciting plans to share with you all!
afternoon where we could show our families exactly what play is like at Roby Park! #RPEnrichment
have done it again! Thank you for creating this wonderful social space for us thanks to funding from
,
,
Children will be able to enjoy this natural space for play and learning
smart school council assembly this week we were talking about our favourite thing to do with OPAL at Roby Park. The overwhelming favourite was the amount of choice of activities/equipment that we have! #RPBritishValues #OPAL
We look forward to inviting parents & carers to another afternoon of OPAL play from 1.30pm tomorrow. Come and experience all that is on offer at Roby Park ?⚽️???
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! Students shared what they love most about it and ideas for how we can make it even better. #BritishValues
CR-I love our new monkey bars. DF-I like climbing the tractor tyres.
meeting. We discussed what our favourite part of our
is and used our democratic skills to work with our tables to come to an agreement. The winning vote was OPAL playtimes make me feel good. #RPWellbeing
Mr Higham for always tidying away our
equipment! Fantastic!
Today’s school council meeting allowed us to reflect on how amazing our playground space is! Children discussed the things they love the most, as well as what they would like to improve it further. #Britishvalues
Thank you to the incredible Jo & Mike from
for building our new play equipment!
for tidying our welly shed multiple times!
Golden Welly Award! Mr Higham noticed how well he used our brand new building area to build a pick axe.
Y2 were very proud of Elliot who was awarded the golden broom this week for his fantastic efforts when tidying up our play equipment.
Y2 loved completing today’s @OPAL_CIC assembly on free flow lunchtimes. It was a great opportunity to recap our play charter, celebrate our play & discuss how free flow lunchtimes will work next week #RPEnrichent #RPPlaytimes
Today we completed one of our @OPAL_CIC assemblies which gave us a great opportunity to recap our play charter and to celebrate all of our Opal playtimes #RPEnrichent #RPPlaytimes
Check out our latest @OPAL_CIC newsletter with exciting information about additional morning play
https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/OPAL-Newsletter-Autumn-Term-2024.pdf
Great to see the children making the most of what the cold weather had to offer them at playtime. Thanks to parents & carers supporting our all weather approach to play by ensuring children were ready for the weather. A lot of fun was had by all.
Our golden wellie award went to a child in year 2 this week who has been a kind friend and gone out of her way to make sure people aren’t left out at playtimes. Well done!
Nursery and Reception enjoyed their very first scooter club! We have shown great listening skills by making sure we stayed on the track.
To celebrate @OutdoorClassDay we had a fantastic afternoon of @OPAL_CIC stay and play. Children & adults made the most of the play opportunities & had fun. The hay bales, loose parts, construction, den building & the swings were all very busy areas #RPEnrichment #RPPlay
Check out our latest newsletter #RPNews
robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/upl
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We celebrated @OutdoorClassDay with a fantastic @OPAL_CIC stay and play afternoon. Children & adults made the most of the play opportunities & had fun. The hay bales, loose parts, construction, den building & climbing frame were all very busy areas #RPEnrichment #RPPlay
We loved welcoming our grown ups back into school for our @OPAL_CIC afternoon! It is amazing to see such happy faces #RPEnrichment
There was no better way to mark @OutdoorClassUKI than to have one of our half termly parent @OPAL_CIC play afternoons! What a fantastic time everyone had!
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We had a fantastic @OPAL_CIC stay and play afternoon today! It was a great way to share with our school community all we have implemented to improve play at Roby Park and the children had a wonderful time #RPEnrichment
On Monday, Nursery had so much fun on the balance bikes. We showed confidence when riding and remembered to follow all the rules to keep safe! #RPEnrichment
Reception had a fantastic balance bike session thanks to @ProRideCoaching
We learnt how to navigate around a course and developed our skills to ride over ramps! Well done, Reception! #RPEnrichment
Get involved in Recycle Week this week! You can help us by donating unwanted clothes to school as well as old tech lying around your house. Check out the presentation for more info…
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Our golden broom award went to a child in year 1 this week who has displayed fantastic team work at tidying up time! He has been making an effort to help tidy all areas, even ones he hasn’t been playing in! Well done!
Our @OPAL_CIC play day was a great success! Thank you to all parents and carers who attended. The children had a fantastic time exploring the areas around our playground! #RPEnrichment
Reception had a great day yesterday during our @OPAL_CIC afternoon! We loved inviting our parents in to enjoy our amazing outdoor area and resources! #RPEnrichment
We’ve had the best OPAL afternoon with parents – engaging in play with children across our school from nursery to year 6 and being able to show our adults all of the exciting things that we can get up to during our break and lunch times!
We’re looking forward to you all attending our @OPAL_CIC play afternoon 1.30-3pm today. Come and discover what play looks like at Roby Park and if you’ve been to any of OPAL play afternoons before come and explore our new additions and have fun in the sun with your child/ren.
Our new digging area and mud kitchen area is proving a popular space to play. Thank you to @Littlefoothq for sorting us out! @OPAL_CIC
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Please can all of our parents & carers complete this quick survey to share your opinions on play at Roby Park. The class with the most responses will win an extra OPAL afternoon with ice creams next week! Click on the link:
Our last OPAL newsletter of the academic year is available now! So many exciting new plans that will be taking place over the coming months! We can’t wait for our children’s reactions….@OPAL_CIC
https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/OPAL-Newsletter-Summer-Term-2.pdf
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Have the most wonderful Summer and we look forward to seeing you all in September!
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Another fantastic @OPAL_CIC afternoon with our grown ups! We love inviting you in to play with us and share all of our amazing resources! #RPEnrichment
Playtimes have never been so good! We have made the most of the sunshine at playtimes and our opal after school clubs! #OPALSchools
Summer camp places can now be booked on Parent Pay. Sessions run from 9am – 3pm and cost just £12.50 per child, per day. Summer camp runs from Monday 22nd July – Friday 9th August. Children need to bring with them a coat, packed lunch, snack and water bottle.
We had a fantastic afternoon for our @OPAL_CIC parent play afternoon! We enjoyed playing with all of our new resources with our grown ups! We can’t wait for the next one! #RPEnrichment
The weather is looking better for our @OPAL_CIC parent play day this Thursday afternoon. If you’re free, why not come and play with your child/ren? Sign up here if you would like to join us for some outdoor fun: https://t.co/6yb7zT52bM
The weather is looking better for our OPAL Outdoor Play and Learning CIC play day this Thursday afternoon. If you’re free, why not come and play with your child/ren?
Sadly our @OPAL_CIC parent play session was rained off with an amber weather warning but it has been rescheduled for Thursday 6th June. Fingers crossed the weather is better! Sign up here if you would like to join us for some outdoor fun: https://forms.gle/ZZwWy2KaX7bapKPo7
Three of our year 1 children were awarded our Golden Broom Award this week for demonstrating an excellent attitude towards tidying up our resources and equipment ensuring it is well looked after and ready for the next children to use! Well done girls!
Our new Reading Shed has arrived in our quiet zone. Children will be able to enjoy a range of fiction and non fiction books purchased with money raised through our reading sponsored event. We have also purchased Tonies for children who want to enjoy audible stories
Our Thursday
club is so popular that we have opened up an extra 30 places! If your child would like to stay and have an extra hour of fun in a safe environment, get them signed up. Please don’t forget children need wellies for them not to miss out on the field fun!
Year 5 always enjoy learning outside and Thursday was no exception. We examined and discussed who these objects belonged to then made a prediction as to what our story could be about. #RPEnglish
We had an amazing start the summer term with a day of play! The children discussed how they wanted to use the play equipment, focusing on potential risks & benefits before getting out & testing it for themselves. Lots of fun was had by all @OPAL_CIC #OPALSchools #RPPlay
What a fantastic start to the Summer term! We launched our new @OPAL_CIC resources! From tree swings to den building to small world… WOW! We can’t wait for every playtime to look like this! #RPEnrichment
What a fantastic start to the new term! The focus of the day was PLAY. Children discussed the benefits and potential risks of each play area before going out and testing each area. Year 5 especially enjoyed making mud pies!
#PlanForPlay #OPALSchools #RPplay
Today we had an amazing time launching our new @OPAL_CIC resources. We climbed, made mud potions, played with small world pieces, used a parachute, built obstacle courses and more. We can’t wait to use these every day! #RPEnrichment
Our annual colour run is back and all in aid of @cashforkidsliv who do an incredible job to support children in our school community cashforkidsgive.co.uk/campaign/sam-t
Please share the sponsor link far and wide to raise as much money as we can for this wonderful charity! Thank you for your support!
Please see the letter detailing the arrangements for the day: robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/upl
Amazing to start the summer term with a day of play! The children discussed how they wanted to use the play equipment, focusing on potential risks & benefits before getting out & testing it for themselves. Lots of fun was had by all @OPAL_CIC #PlanForPlay #OPALSchools #RPPlay
It may be wet and windy but the children are having a fantastic time putting everything from their play assemblies into action with all the new resources @OPAL_CIC
https://x.com/RobyParkSchool/status/1779801873937022991
We are excited to see all of the chn back for an exciting start of term tomorrow. Doors open at 8.40am. Just a polite reminder to send chn into school in their school PE tracksuit, trainers and warm coat for our @OPAL_CIC launch day tomorrow.
Chn will get to experience and enjoy all of our new resources. Chn must have their wellies with them to go on the field. Wellies will stay in school so please wear trainers and bring wellies in a bag. Keep an eye out on all of our socials to see what fun the children get up to.
Don’t forget the deadline for our @OPAL_CIC bingo competition is this Mon. Please feel free to get friends, family & neighbours involved! The more, the merrier. Please send all resources through to class with your child so your child’s class teacher can mark them off.
To launch all of our exciting new @OPAL_CIC resources, we are going to host a launch day this Mon for the chn. All chn need to come in to school wearing their PE kits and trainers, with their wellies also to keep in school. Children are only allowed on the field with wellies.
Check out all the new resources your children will love to play with as of this Monday, in our latest newsletter: https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/OPAL-Newsletter-April-2024-2-1.pdf
The weather is predicting a few showers throughout Monday but rain doesn’t stop us so please make sure your child has a suitable coat with them.
We have been so busy getting ready for the upcoming term that we couldn’t wait to share with you feedback from our
Our latest @OPAL_CIC newsletter is out now. Check it out here: https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/OPAL-Newsletter-April-2024.pdf
For forest school with @Littfoothq we had to build structures that were strong enough to withstand challenges of Joe trying to knock them down. We discovered that the strongest towers aren’t always the tallest and need a really strong base! #RPEnrichment
We had a fantastic last session! We worked with partners to plant some pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. The children have been fantastic this half term and have loved gardening club with Mr Lyon! We can’t wait to see it all begin to grow!
Summer term extra curricular clubs are live on Parent Booking at midday today. Please note our @OPAL_CIC play sessions are family events and parents/carers are to accompany their child. Younger siblings are welcome but are the responsibility of parents/carers
This week we have continued helping with our litter picking, with lots of little helpers to ensure our playground is litter free. The children have have really enjoyed helping out and are determined to keep our school clean! Well done everybody!
After completing our last maths assessment, it was time to get active and complete the @_thedailymile
Please make sure your child has wellies to keep in school, no later than Mon 15th Apr. Children can only go on the field in wellies if the grounds are wet and we do not want anyone to miss out on all of the exciting play opportunities coming this Easter.
As part of The Great Big School Clean we have been collecting litter from the school grounds and local area. The children have loved looking after their environment. #TheGreatBigSchoolClean
WOW! We have raised £379.20 for brand new books from our sponsored reading event and £104 for @comicrelief. Books will be going into our new reading shed for children to enjoy at playtimes. Thank you so much! @OPAL_CIC
Here is our action plan for how we are working to develop play over this academic year. Check out our Opal page on the website for all up to date information: https://robyparkprimary.co.uk/curriculum-2/opalprogramme/
Today we have been working on our digging skills. We worked really hard and supported each other to dig out all of the weeds, even the really big ones!
We are excited to participate in @OutdoorClassUKI on 23rd May and coincide this with our first parent @OPAL_CIC
parent play day.
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Save the date! Parents & carers get limbering up and ready to get filthy! Our colour run is back for the 4th year running and again this year, we are choosing to support @cashforkidsliv and @hitsradiouk with @SamThompsonUK
More details to come around Easter.
We need parents and carers to take 2 mins to complete our playtime survey!
Click here: https://forms.gle/ysHDq715T95rwe827
The class with the most responses will win an incredible prize!
Our Easter Holiday Club is back for YR-Y6, running from 2nd-12th April. Sessions run from 9.00-3.00pm and cost £12.50 per day. Children need to bring a packed lunch, water bottle and raincoat. Select your days and make payment on Parent Pay #RPEnrichment
Check out our latest newsletter #RPNEWS robyparkprimary.co.uk/wp-content/upl
The children have loved their first gardening club with Mr Lyon. We have planted carrots, cabbages and some broccoli! We can’t wait to see them start to sprout
We are looking at our playtimes and thinking about how we can improve them by introducing the @OPAL_CIC
Programme. Can you help? We really want to know what you think of playtimes now – please complete this 2 minute survey. Thank you. forms.gle/dsLcU5m7AB3ea6
Y2 have decided that the gigantic sandpit is a great addition to playtimes @RobyParkSchool. One child said, “Playing in the sandpit with my friends was the best! Our school is so much fun.”
#OPALPlay #OPALSchools #RPPlay
